19th Sunday in ordinary time. Today’s readings: 1 Kings 19: 9a. 11-13a; Psalm 84; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14: 22-33

Vers l’autre rive (1989) is a collection of texts by Swami Abhishiktananda (1910-1973) aimed at initiating readers to the spiritual appreciation of the Upanishads, which are part of the oldest Hindu Scriptures, the Vedas. The title of this anthology of texts comprises translations and commentaries of the Upanishads, writings on Hindu monasticism, as well as an article on the sannyâsâ state of life.

Written a few weeks before his death on December 7, 1973, the title recalls Jesus’s instruction to his disciples to go “to the other side”. As a Benedictine monk from Sainte-Anne de Kergonan Monastery in Brittany, Henri Le Saux, once a prisoner-of-war, was compelled by an inner call in 1948 to physically “get into the boat and go on [...] to the other side” in India. Once there, he co-founded with Jules Monchanin (1895-1957) in Shantivanam, the Saccidânanda Ashram, a monastery dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity.

A year later he became a hermit on the sacred mountain Arunachala, frequenting Hindu ashrams and spiritual masters. Taking on the state of an errant ascetic as Swami Abhishiktananda, he went “to the other side”, immersing himself in mystical union with God, pursuing the Advaita path of non-duality.

In the last days before his final passing “to the other side” he fixed his eyes on an icon representing the fiery ascension to heaven of the Prophet Elijah. Recognised as one of the 20th century’s greatest mystics, Le Saux is a courageous pioneer of inter-spiritual dialogue. Daring against all odds – including his temperament of a very pious Breton attached to his birthplace and traditions – to go “to the other side”, he pursued alone the path of fruitfully deepening his faith in Jesus Christ through the Hindu lived experience, as to its philosophical and theological categories.

God’s Word presses the local faith community with a wake-up call today to move out of the comfort zone and to abandon the navel-gazing attitude

In today’s gospel, Jesus tells his disciples to “get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side”, in other words, to move out of their comfort zone, and to sail uncharted waters ahead of him. They were still tasting glory of the miraculous feeding of the multitude but, dismissing the crowds, Jesus literally ousts the disciples to move on, all alone. Once in the boat, “buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it”, they fearfully realise with difficulty that Jesus is already on the waters awaiting them. Immediately, they find themselves on “the other side” with him.

Similarly, in the first reading, God instructs Elijah to stop contemplating his navel, “go out, and stand on the mountain” in his presence. There he was thrust into uncharted territory, encountering God afresh in the deafening silence, rather than the traditional theophanic forms he knew so well.

God’s Word today is a wake-up call for the local faith community to move out of its comfort zone and abandon the navel-gazing attitude. The humus we are in has long changed; society and culture have long since moved on, presenting ever new challenges and seemingly leaving the faith community clueless on how to pertinently and sagaciously respond according to the signs of times.

In the reading from the letter to the Romans, the Apostle, with “great sorrow and unceasing anguish”, bewails those who resist moving on to new pastures, losing a God-given opportunity to new life. To the Corinthians he warns that “the old has passed away” (2 Cor 5:17). Echoing similar sentiments, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini once lamented the Church being “200 years behind the times”, “tired”, with “empty places of worship”, hauling around phantoms of worn-out pastoral strategies, enforcing the perception of being an irrelevant institution, guardian of debilitating traditions. In the meantime, Christ is waiting on “the other side” of the shore.

 

charlo.camilleri@um.edu.mt